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If you haven't visited "Breaktime," our online discussion group, then you're missing out on a fascinating exchange of ideas, advice and commentary. You'll find "Breaktime" on our Web site at w ww .finehomebuilding.com. Listed below are some recent highlights. Face-frame vs. frameless cabinets Created by Dave Esposito: I'm planning to build my kitchen cabinets. I like the look of face-frame cabinets, but frameless units offer more space. What are the pros and cons of frameless and face-frame construction for kitchen cabinets? Posted by Jocobe: Frameless cabinets are easy and inexpensive to build. You can make the boxes out of birch plywood or MDF, and veneer the front edges. You also don't need to make the cabinets with toe kicks. You can install one toe kick the length of the run of cabinets, level it, screw it to the floor, drop the boxes on it and screw them together. You can purchase custom doors, in any size, style and wood species from a number of manufacturers. And Euro-style hinges offer a lot of adjustments to get the doors just right. Another neat thing about frameless cabinets is that in the future, if you want an entirely different look in your kitchen, all you have to do is make new doors and drawer fronts. You can go from plastic laminate doors to raised-panel wood doors in a couple of hours. Posted by Capper John: Face-frame cabinets are easy to hang because the face frame typically overhangs the sides of the box by 'I. in. So when you're installing a cabinet that goes against the wall, you need to get only the face frame and not the box tight against the wall. Because the cabinet box is 'I. in. away from the wall, you avoid a potential problem if the wall is out of square. I've hung a lot of face-frame cabinets, and it's easy. Find the studs, drill the corresponding holes in the cabinets, and screw them to the wall. Whichever you choose, keep in mind that you need to have something solid, something more than 'I.-in. plywood, across the back that you can screw through to attach the box to the wall. Posted by No One: The decision between traditional face-frame or European frameless cabinetry is more a design choice than anything else. European frameless styling is modern, while the traditional face-frame style is classic and has stood the test of time. In some schools of thought, the traditional face-frame style is considered furniture-grade cabinetry, and frameless cabinets are considered economical solutions with space optimization and cost as the incentives. We are starting to design and install a combination of the two styles: framed cabinets with European-style hinges and frameless cabinets with traditional raised-panel doors and crown molding. Protecting plans on the job site Created by Stossel1 : I started a framing job a week ago and already my plans look like my 3-year-old got them. Does anyone have a good idea for protecting plans on the job site? Posted by Panama Red: I store my plans in PVC pipe. I glue a cap on one end and put a loose cap on the other end. The plans still get beat up because they're always in and out of the tube, but it prolongs their life. The plans that go with the permit are kept in another tube and rarely come out. Posted by Bill H: I put masking tape along the edges of new plans. It doesn't help with spil ls, rain, snow or sunlight, but it keeps the pages from being torn as easily. Posted by Scotcrpntr: I have plans laminated and have copies made. I keep the originals rolled up in my truck, hang one set of copies on site and give my subs their own set. Sometimes I reduce the copies SO% so that they are easier to handle. And at SO%, the scale is exactly half and doesn't cause any confusion. Three ways to float drywall Created by Ken Wheat: What is the best way to install drywall at the intersections of ceilings and walls to avoid cracking due to truss uplift? Posted by Dave Richeson: Hang the drywall sheets for the ceiling normally, but leave them unattached within 2 ft. of the walls. When you hang the walls, pin the ceiling sheet of drywall to the bottom of the truss with the upper wall sheets. Then tape and finish the intersection normally. Because the ceiling sheets are not attached to the truss within 2 ft. of the wall, if truss uplift occurs, the unattached ceiling drywall should flex enough to keep from splitting the tape or cracking the joint compound. Posted by Schellingm: We use clips to float the intersections. The principle is the same as Dave explained, but the clips fasten the sheets of drywall on the ceiling to the sheets on the walls. Not only do they hold the drywall in place, but they also help to align adjacent sheets. We use them on wall-to-wall intersections as well. Posted by Boss Hog: I prefer to create a floating intersection by attaching wood blocking to the top plate of the wall between the trusses. The blocking hangs over the plate edge and gives me something sturdy to attach the ceiling sheets of drywall to. For this method to work, it's crucial to fasten the edges of the ceiling drywall to the blocking only, not the trusses. How much working time with thinset? Created by John Viola: How quickly does thinset begin to set once it has been mixed? I've heard everything from 15 minutes to a few hours. Posted by Piffin: Some brands remain workable for two hours; others last longer. Follow the instructions but consider the variables. The stuff I use claims to last up to four hours, but it gets gummy after three, possibly because of temperature. Once thinset is spread on the substrate, it will begin to skin over in about 15 minutes. You 16 FINE HOMEBUILDING e: The Best of FUB Online